Abstract:
Refugee testimonies of human rights abuses are often treated with distrust as a means of sustaining regimes of exclusion and denial. As part of a larger investigation of the relationship between the figure of the refugee and public discourses of distrust, this talk will consider the role of contemporary Cambodian cinema in countering ongoing legacies of denial related to the history of war and genocide in Cambodia. Although over four decades have elapsed, these events continue to haunt twentieth-century historical memory since state mechanisms such as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (also known as the Khmer Rouge Tribunal) have proved to be limited in their capacity or will to redress the injustices of the past. In this context of non-reconciliation, Cambodian artists such as acclaimed filmmaker Rithy Panh have sought to forge an alternative space where truth can be pursued. This talk will focus specifically on Panh’s 2011 film Shiiku, The Catch and his 2013 Oscar-nominated film The Missing Picture, considering their experimentations with film form as well as their relevance to the current global refugee crisis.
Short bio:
Y-Dang Troeung is Assistant Professor of English at City University of Hong Kong, where she researchers and teaches in the fields of Asian and Asian diasporic literature in English, film studies, postcolonial literature, cultural studies, and human rights. Her current research project is a study of relationship between refugee narratives, surveillance, and survival in the aftermath of the war in Cambodia. Her publications can be found in Modern Fiction Studies, Canadian Literature, Interventions, University of Toronto Quarterly, Rethinking History, MELUS, ARIEL, and Concentric.
Please click here for the Youtube video of Dr. Troeung's seminar.
